Pencil holders including those associated with clipboard assemblies are well known in the prior art. In particular such pencil holders and accompanying score card writing clipboards or equivalent writing panels have been well developed as golf scorekeeping accessories for use on golf bags or golf carts. Typical of such prior art are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,449,310, May 22, 1984 to K.S. Kline for a golf bag accessory and 4,573,549, Mar. 4, 1986 to A.A. Pankow for a clipboard mount on the steering wheel of a golf cart.
Particularly when a golfer is out on the course and keeping score on a scorecard, the presence of a pencil is critical. Since a golf cart is usually used after each hole is finished it is convenient to fill out a scorecard to reflect the score for each hole at the golf cart site. Thus, a preferred place to keep a pencil and scorecard writing surface is at an easy to use place aboard the golf cart. The steering wheel site is ideally suited for this purpose since the driver may sit and have a scorecard and pencil available at a convenient writing height and position. However, if a pencil is not available, becomes lost or misplaced, or its point is broken, a golfer does not oridinarily think to carry a spare out on the course.
Thus preserving a pencil reliably in position on the steering wheel of a golf cart for use without a broken point to keep golf scores involves a critical set of conditions not fully satisfactory with any known prior art solutions. For example, the usual pencil holding spring metal clips may become sprung so that the pencil is loosely held and can be jarred out of the clip, particularly in the rather rough ride encountered in a golf cart over uneven terrain. This is a particularly difficult environment for any pencil holder clip that could ride in a position where gravity would tend to pull the pencil out of the clip. In the presence of vibration, for example, a metal frictional clip holding a pencil vertical to the ground could permit the pencil to slip downwardly and be lost.
Furthermore, the entry of the pencil into a clip or holder of conventional construction may be awkward or complicated so that misalignment of the pencil will affect the reliability of the grasp on the pencil body or cause breaking of the point.
Accordingly it is the object of this invention to provide an improved pencil holder that overcomes the prior art problems and unreliabilities, particularly in a golf scorekeeping accessory having particular advantage in a golf cart steering wheel mount.